The heart-wrenching story of little Charlie Gard should leave you asking: What can I do? How would Christ want me to respond?

Eleven-month-old Charlie Gard is currently living on life support in a British hospital. Charlie's life has become a literal tug of war between his mom and dad and the hospital charged with his care. The power struggle over Charlie's treatment and his parents' right to decide what is best for him should never have happened.

But the real question is dramatically brought into perspective by a hospital that is arguing about Charlie's quality of life. At issue is whether or not judges and doctors can make a subjective decision about whether or not to treat Charlie, even if the outcome is negative. However, a couple of days ago the hospital appeared to have had a change of heart, stating:

Two international hospitals and their researchers have communicated to us as late as the last 24 hours that they have fresh evidence about their proposed experimental treatment.

We believe, in common with Charlie's parents, it is right to explore this evidence. . . .

It will be for the High Court to make its judgment on the facts.

So now Charlie's fate once again hangs in the balance for a court to decide. Yet those of us who defend life on a daily basis understand that, regardless of the challenges that Charlie faces in his young life, he is fighting for his life. It is for this reason alone that justice should be done.

It can be very difficult to watch someone you love suffer. People like Charlie's parents have an incredibly hard cross to bear. And when it comes to helping Charlie, medicine has limits. Though Charlie's parents are not morally obliged to pursue further treatment for their son, as this treatment may be excessively burdensome on Charlie (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2278), they know they must follow God's will in how their son is treated. Despite the challenges that Charlie's case brings to medical professionals, one thing is clear: Pulling the plug on Charlie's respirator is murder, no matter who does it. Charlie deserves the right to live until God calls him home. Charlie may be near the day that he will die of his terminal illness, but today is not that day.

Precisely! What is at stake here in a very fundamental way is the question of whether or not society understands that every single innocent person – born and preborn – is endowed by God, not the doctors or the court, with a right to life that only He can take back to Himself.

The European Court of Human Rights has assumed quasi-divine status by claiming it has the right to determine who can live and who can die.

This is apparently what "progress" looks like: barbarism disguised as mercy. It is the logical consequence of a culture experiencing moral decay, for when society does not protect the lives of those who cannot speak for themselves, the throwaway culture thrives.

Or as Flannery O'Connor once said: "In the absence of faith, we govern by tenderness. And tenderness leads to the gas chamber."

The core of this struggle to defend Charlie Gard's right to live until he dies because of his disease rather than because of man's arrogance is a battle for moral sanity. The man-made quality of life measuring stick was devised to sanction direct killing, not to nurture, affirm, and love life until it ebbs and dies.

At this juncture in Charlie Gard's case, let us reflect on St. John Paul II's words on the value of the human person: "A man, even if seriously sick or prevented in the exercise of its higher functions, is and will be always a man. . . . [he] will never become a 'vegetable' or an 'animal'. . . . The intrinsic value and personal dignity of every human being does not change depending on their circumstances."

Judie Brown

Judie Brown is president and co-founder of American Life League, the nation's largest grassroots pro-life educational organization... (more)

Judie Brown is president and co-founder of American Life League, the nation's largest grassroots pro-life educational organization.

She has served three terms as a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life in Rome. Daily Catholic cited her as one of the top 100 Catholics of the 20th century.

Judie has appeared on 20/20, 60 Minutes, Mother Angelica Live, The O'Reilly Factor, Good Morning America, Today, Oprah, and Larry King Live, as well as hundreds of other television and radio talk shows. Her comments regularly appear in major print media nationwide, and she has written numerous editorial pieces for magazines and newspapers, including The Washington Post and USA Today.

Judie is married to Paul A. Brown, and they have three children and nine grandchildren. She and her husband have been involved in the pro-life movement since 1969.